British Communism and the Politics of Race explores the role that the Communist Party of Great Britain played within the anti-racism movement in Britain from the 1940s to the 1980s, campaigning against racial discrimination, popular imperialism and fascist violence.

Acknowledgements Introduction  Themes  Shifting Away from the Centrality of Class  Thinking Intersectionally about the CPGB and the Politics of ‘Race’  Situating the Party’s Anti-racism within the Wider Scholarship  A Note on Methodology  Book Structure 1 The End of Empire and the Windrush Moment, 1945–60  The Communist Party’s Anti-colonial Traditions  The CPGB and the Era of Decolonisation  Left Nationalism and the Postwar CPGB  The Response of the Communist Party to Commonwealth Migration  The Campaign Against Polish Resettlement  The Legacy of the ‘Battle of Cable Street’ and the CPGB’s Postwar Anti-fascism  Anti-fascist Action against the Fascist Revival of the Union Movement, 1945–51  The Impact of Commonwealth Migrants upon the Party’s Anti-colonial/Anti-racist Outlook  The Nationality Branches  Conclusion 2 Anti-racism and Building the ‘Mass Party’, 1960–9  The Communist Party, Labour and Immigration Controls  The Principle of Immigration Controls  The Campaign for Legislation against Racial Discrimination  The Race Relations Acts Under Labour, 1965–8  The CPGB’s Concept of ‘Race’ in the Post-Colonial Era  The Movement for Colonial Freedom and Moderate Anti-racism  The Beginnings of the ‘British Upturn’ and the Radicalism of ‘1968’  The Trade Unions and Race  The Rise of New Social Movements and Black Radicalism  The Link with International Issues  Capitulating to Racism: Labour and the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968  Integration and ‘Good Race Relations’: The 1968 Race Relations Act  Powellism and the Rise of the National Front  Conclusion 3 The Crisis Emerges, 1970–5  The 1971 Immigration Act and Opposition to the Conservative Government  The Communist Party and the Reaction of the Trade Unions to the Immigration Act  Facing the Limits of Industrial Militancy  The Ugandan Asian ‘Controversy’ and the Rise of the National Front under the Conservatives  The ‘No Platform’ Strategy  Red Lion Square and the Death of Kevin Gately  The Trade Union Response to Fascism and Racism in the 1970s  Asian Workers and the Trade Unions in the Early 1970s: Mansfield Hosiery Mills and Imperial Typewriters  Conclusion 4 The Great Moving Right Show, 1976–9  The Building of the Broad Democratic Alliance  The Grunwick Strike  Intersectionality and the British Labour Movement  Policing the Labour Movement  The NF’s Shift to the Streets and the Rise of the Asian Youth Movements  The Rise of the SWP and the Revival of Militant Anti-fascism  The ‘Battle of Lewisham’  ‘The National Front is a Nazi Front’: The Anti-Nazi League, 1977–9  Rock Against Racism  The ANL and the Wider British left  Southall and the Death of Blair Peach  ‘Feeling Rather Swamped’: Thatcher and the Exploitation of Popular Racism  Conclusion 5 Babylon’s Burning: Into the 1980s  Further Defeats for the CPGB  The Police and the Black Communities  From Southall to Brixton: The Violent Reaction to the Police Under Thatcher  ‘Crisis in the Inner Cities’: The Communist Party’s Reaction  The 1981 Riots as Social Protest  Lord Scarman’s Report and the Denial of Institutional Racism  The Broad Democratic Alliance and Municipal Anti-racism  The ‘Limits’ of Trade Unionism in the 1980s  The Push for Black Sections/Caucuses within the Labour Movement  The End of the Party  Conclusion Conclusion References Index